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The St. Louis area is home to all four Missouri firms on Fortune Magazine’s 100 Fastest-Growing Companies list for 2010.

Chemical and ammunition maker Olin Corp. (NYSE: OLN) came in at No. 40 after not having made last year’s list.

Brokerage and banking firm Stifel Financial Corp. (NYSE: SF) came in at No. 65, having ranked 25^th last year.

Food company Ralcorp Holdings (NYSE: RAH) was 75^th for the second year in a row.

And restaurant operator and franchisor Panera Bread (Nasdaq: PNRA) was No instant payday loan. 99 on this year’s list but hadn’t been listed last year.

Topping Fortune’s 2010 list as the fastest-growing company was mining company Eldorado Gold of Vancouver, Canada, with three-year annualized EPS growth of 119 percent.

Fortune compiled the list based on a firm's revenue and profit growth, as well as annualized total return for the three-year period ended June 30. The list will appear in the magazine’s Sept. 6 issue.

For the full list, go here.

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Cascade Financial Corp. said Friday it received a notice from the NASDAQ stock exchange that its common stock price was below $1 for 30 consecutive business days and therefore not in compliance with NASDAQ rules.

The Everett, Wash.-based banking company (NASDAQ: CASB), parent company of Cascade Bank, said it has 180 calendar days, or until January 31, 2011, to regain compliance with the minimum closing bid price requirement. If it doesn't meet that deadline, its shares will be subject to delisting by NASDAQ.

Cascade shares ended the day Friday at 41 cents.

In July, the Federal Deposit Insurance Corp. and the Washington Department of Financial Institutions issued a consent order, ordering the bank to raise capital within three months, among other requirements.

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Toyota Motor Corp. said Thursday it was recalling more than 400,000 older-model vehicles sold in the United States, citing potential steering-related problems in both.

The Japanese automaker said the recall would affect 373,000 Toyota Avalons manufactured between 2000 to 2004. The company said the vehicle’s steering lock bar could break under certain conditions, increasing the risk of a crash.

Toyota (TM) also cited steering issues in its recall of some 39,000 Lexus LX 470 vehicles. The company said that if the vehicle experienced a severe impact to the front wheels, such as striking a pothole, the steering shaft could disengage over time. The recall only affects vehicles from model years 2003 to 2007.

The company said it was not aware of any accidents related to its Lexus LX 470.

The latest recalls came less than two weeks after the company was subpoenaed by a federal grand jury to produce documents related to steering problems in its vehicles.

The company has also been undertaking a massive effort to rebuild its image in the wake of a number of quality and safety problems that came to light earlier this year.

In recent months, the automaker has recalled more than 8 million vehicles worldwide for a variety of safety issues, including possible unintended acceleration and problems with anti-lock brake software.

"Toyota is continuing to work diligently to address safety issues wherever they arise and to strengthen our global quality assurance operations so that Toyota owners can be confident in the safety of their vehicles," Steve St. Angelo, Toyota chief quality officer for North America, said in a statement Thursday.

The company said it would begin to send out notifications in mid-August to owners of the vehicles affected by Thursday’s recall. Drivers will be able to bring their car to a local dealer to have the vehicle fixed at no charge. 

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Now that Goldman Sachs has likely put its troubles with the Securities and Exchange Commission behind it, can the company finally breathe a sigh of relief?

Not just yet.

On Tuesday, Wall Street’s most-gilded firm will report its second-quarter results. Analysts however, have been dramatically cutting forecasts for Goldman Sachs in recent weeks amid concerns that the combination of market volatility and economic tremors will hurt profits.

Current expectations are for the company to earn just under $1.3 billion, or $2 a share, according to Thomson Reuters. That’s down 64% from the $3.4 billion it earned a year ago.

Less-than-impressive numbers from some of Goldman’s closest rivals is shaking investor confidence even further.

JPMorgan Chase (JPM, Fortune 500), for example, reported a double-digit decline in trading revenues when it delivered its results on Thursday.

Both Citigroup (C, Fortune 500) and Bank of America (BAC, Fortune 500) reported similar declines.

That prompted FBR Capital Markets analyst Steve Stelmach to cut his estimates for Goldman Friday.

And while Goldman (GS, Fortune 500) has taken part in several key initial public offerings recently, including that of electric car maker Tesla Motors (TSLA) and exchange operator CBOE Holdings (CBOE), investment banking activity remains sluggish.

Revenue from stock and debt activity worldwide fell 24% to $7.9 billion during the second quarter from $10.4 billion in the previous quarter, according to research firm Dealogic.

But the troubles for Goldman don’t appear to end there. With a significant presence in the United Kingdom, the company is also likely to take a charge worth several hundred million dollars as a result of the British government’s decision earlier this year to tax bankers’ bonuses.

At any other time, Goldman might have been able to pretty up its results by lowering the amount of money it sets aside for employee pay this quarter. The only problem, however is that the firm dramatically lowered the amount it added to its compensation pool last quarter.

In order to pay its famously large bonuses at year end, experts suggest the company won’t have that option this time around.

"They made the decision in the first quarter to start out at much lower levels than they ever had before," said William Blair analyst Mark Lane. "I don’t think they can do much there."

What could weigh on Goldman’s results even further is Goldman’s proposed $550 million settlement with the SEC. Analysts expect the company to take a charge this quarter for the full amount. That would be about 92 cents a share, according to FBR’s Stelmach.

Executives from the company are also likely to face tough questions Tuesday about the impact of the forthcoming financial regulatory bill.

Some analysts have suggested that Goldman could be among the hardest hit by changes to derivatives trading and the so-called "Volcker rule", which would limit how much banks can invest in private equity and hedge funds.

But with the bill expected to be signed into law by President Obama next week and official rules still several months away, Goldman will be able to breathe easier knowing it doesn’t have to answer those tough questions just yet.

"There is no way they will quantify anything," said Lane. 

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Two years after the credit squeeze began, Americans are still pulling back.

A government report released Thursday showed that consumer credit fell at an annual rate of 4.5% in May, making it the fourth consecutive month of declining credit.

Total consumer credit fell a seasonally adjusted $9.1 billion to $2.4 trillion, the Federal Reserve reported.

Economists had predicted a decline in total borrowing of $3 billion, according to a consensus estimate from Briefing.com.

"No one is shocked to see another decrease," said Tim Quinlan, an economist with Wells Fargo. "This report, combined with disappointing May retail sales report, is the latest indication of weakness in consumer spending."

The decline was led by a 10.5% drop in revolving credit, which includes credit card debt payday loans.

Non-revolving credit — car, personal and student loans, among other things — also decreased. It declined by $1.82 billion, or 1.5%.

The Fed on Thursday also revised its April figures. After originally reporting that credit had gone up by $1 billion, it now says credit decreased by $14.9 billion.

Quinlan expects consumer credit to continue to decline "as consumers try to gradually repair their balance sheets."

And consumers are being more conservative.

"We look to a modest growth in personal income, but now expect consumers to split that increase between spending and saving," Quinlan added. 

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Loose internal controls and a reliance on real estate development loans sunk The Buckhead Community Bank, the lender in Atlanta’s tony enclave founded by Aaron’s Inc. founder Charlie Loudermilk, according to a post-mortem of the bank’s collapse.

Buckhead Community, famously founded by Loudermilk, an Atlanta business legend, after a poor customer service experience at another bank, bet heavily on residential and commercial development loans in metro Atlanta.

The failure of the $896 million-in-assets Buckhead Community cost the government's deposit insurance fund $240 million.

Like many other Georgia banks, the sweet profits found in lending to developers soured with the fallout of the real estate market, and Buckhead Community burned through its capital as losses mounted, according to a report Friday by the Office of the Inspector General of the Federal Deposit Insurance Corp.

“(The bank) failed because the bank’s Board and management did not implement adequate controls to identify, measure, monitor, and control the risks associated with the bank’s significant (land acquisition and development loan) concentration,” the report stated. “Further, Buckhead relied on potentially volatile non-core liabilities such as higher-priced certificates of deposit, including brokered deposits, to fund loan growth.”

It’s a familiar story in Georgia, a state which leads the nation in bank failures with 38 since 2008, including eight this year.

Buckhead Community failed Dec. 4, 2009, along with two other banks. It and First Security National Bank were bundled and sold to State Bank & Trust Co. in a deal assisted by the FDIC.

Buckhead Community was founded in 1998 with $34 million in assets by investors, including Loudermilk, and featured some of the city’s business elite on its board, including and real estate developers David Allman, owner of Regent Partners LLC, and Julian LeCraw.

The bank tripled in size every three years from 1998 to 2007, propelled in part by an ultimately crippling decision in 2007 to acquire Allied Bancshares Inc., the parent company of First National Bank of Forsyth County.

In a December 2008 interview with Atlanta Business Chronicle, Loudermilk, Buckhead Community’s chairman, said he regretted the decision to acquire Allied at the height of the market.

The purchase contributed to soaring loan losses at the bank, with eight branches across the north metro.

“We wouldn’t buy that group again,” he said at the time. “It was a good thing at the time, but if we were presented with it today we’d pass.”

First National was also besieged by real estate loan problems when Buckhead Community acquired it for $53.8 million in stock and cash, capital that could have been used to protect against real estate losses.

Buckhead Community lost $59.8 million through the first three quarters of 2009, following a $35.8 million loss in 2008.

The bank was bullish with its loan growth from 2004 to 2007, ignoring declines in the housing market, the FDIC said.

“Weaknesses in the bank’s loan underwriting and credit administration practices, exacerbated by the precipitous economic decline in the Atlanta metropolitan real estate market that began in 2007, led to ADC loan losses that eroded the bank’s earnings and capital,” the Inspector General’s report said.

In 2008, Buckhead Community had nearly five times its total capital in real estate loans.

Soured loans began to mount in the second half of 2008. Problem loans—those delinquent, in default or in foreclosure—climbed to 9.8 percent in third quarter 2008 and more than tripled to 28.66 percent by the end of the first quarter of this year.

By the third quarter, 36.98 percent of its $648 million loan portfolio was in some form of trouble. A total of $173 million in loans were listed as non-accrual or foreclosed.

In December 2008, the held $277.7 million in wholesale deposits, volatile funding sources when a bank encounters trouble because the deposits are not from local core customers.

In its 2009 annual report, Buckhead Community’s auditors said they had doubts about the bank's ability to survive, and the bank was also subject to regulatory enforcement orders requiring the bank to raise capital and improve its balance sheet.

By January 2008, regulators reached an informal memorandum of understanding to correct problems. More restrictive enforcement action followed in August 2009, when the FDIC slapped the bank with a cease and desist order, directing the bank to make changes to its operations.

Bank insiders tried to save the bank, pursuing options to raise capital. It issued $10 million in subordinated notes in March 2008, and submitted an application in October 2008 for funding under the U.S. Treasury’s Troubled Asset Relief Program. That application was withdrawn several months later.

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Employees on the Deepwater Horizon oil rig that exploded April 20 all had the ability to stop the drilling process at any time but ignored red flags, BP and Transocean executives told lawmakers Thursday.

"Any employee, anywhere at any level, if they have any concern about safety, has the ability and, in fact, the responsibility to raise their hand and try to get the operations stopped, whether that’s our operations or a contractor’s operations," Lamar McKay, chairman and president of BP America, told the House Natural Resources Committee.

Transocean president and CEO Steve Newman said his company - which owned the oil rig - gives all its employees "stop work authority" to call a "time out for safety." He said the company even takes pictures of employees and distributes them across the entire organization, to recognize those who have called so-called time-outs.

But why then did no one say "stop?"

Lamar acknowledged that hours before an explosion sunk the rig, killing 11 workers and sending oil gushing into the Gulf of Mexico, there were warning signs that went ignored.

"I do think there is a significant period of time where there were signals and there was a cumulative effect of those signals that were not recognized," he said.

Lawmakers questioned both McKay and Newman about an alleged argument that took place between BP’s site manager and the Transocean team over a procedure hours before the blast payday advance lender.

But both McKay and Newman said they didn’t know anything about the argument, other than what was reported in the press Wednesday.

The hearing was one of several oil-related sessions on Capitol Hill this week as Congress investigates the cause of the Gulf Coast spill.

At a news conference Thursday, President Obama said the government will extend a moratorium on permits to drill any new deepwater wells for at least six months. Offshore drilling permits have been suspended since April, after the Deepwater Horizon explosion.

Newman said he would support a moratorium for six months, calling it a "prudent" pause while investigators still search for the cause of the explosion, but he still believes in the long-term importance of offshore drilling.

The hearing comes a day after BP started a so-called "top kill" procedure aimed at plugging the leak. McKay said at Thursday’s hearing that he does not know whether the procedure is working, but the company will continue to report on its progress. 

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So now what do we do? How do we create a more entrepreneurial climate in St. Louis, and ensure the companies of the future grow here?

The short answer, the easy answer, is money, in the form of bank loans, seed funds, venture capital. But money is tight these days, and it has a tendency to follow results, not fertilize new ground. So here are a few other ideas — most already in play on a small scale — that St. Louis can build on to make its economic garden bloom.

Lower the barriers to entry — Most startups operate on a drum-tight budget. And any hurdle to opening the doors makes that budget even tighter.

Yet many entrepreneurs say they face a maze of paperwork, inspections, licenses and approvals. This takes precious time and money.

"Business assistance centers," like the one run by the city of St. Louis, try to help smooth the road for would-be business owners. More publicity for programs like these, and less paperwork in general, would be big step in the right direction.

Pull in the same direction — St. Louis has scads of people working on this problem. There are incubators and counseling programs and angel networks and mentor teams. Most do good work. But sometimes, they do the same work.

"It’s difficult sometimes for business support organizations to work together," said Eddie Davis, director of the Center for the Advancement of African-American Roundtable. "This impedes our growth."

And despite all these efforts, everyone has stories of small-business owners who don’t know the resources available to them. A more streamlined effort to steer people in the best direction would make the most of all of this.

Maybe it’s a regional clearinghouse. Maybe it’s (horrors!) a committee. Maybe it’s as simple as stronger informal networks among the many groups working on this. But more cooperation would go a long way.

Cash on the barrel — Yes, the kind of money needed to fuel lots of startups is probably too much to hope for. But small, well-targeted loan funds can make a difference. Like St. Louis County’s new Boost loan program.

Funded with a $5 million line of credit from PNC Bank, the Boost program is designed to help small businesses struggling to get bank loans, by offering funds with lower eligibility requirements, and county backing payday loans. Since January, the county has received more than 30 serious applications and will soon issue its first loans.

Small partnerships like this could augment bank lending and provide more support to startups at a relatively low cost.

Leverage our universities — Two years ago, a group of investors launched the Billiken Angel Network, a fund designed to provide seed capital to entrepreneurs with a tie to St. Louis University — students, alumni, faculty. They leverage their own money, plus $1 million in funding from SLU, to help fund startups, many of them here in St. Louis.

This region has a lot of universities. And they create a lot of ideas. Pooling investors around their ties to other local institutions, from Columbia to Rolla to Edwardsville, is a low-cost way to spark more companies that are born, and will stay, in St. Louis.

Pool Midwestern venture capital — Most of the Midwest — not just St. Louis — lags when it comes to creating high-powered, innovative startups. This is despite research universities that are among the nation’s best, and that win more than their share of federal grants, R&D funding and patents.

"But it’s not getting translated into new businesses," said John Austin, who heads the Great Lakes Economic Initiative at the Brookings Institution.

He co-authored a recent report detailing how the Midwest ships much of its venture capital to the coasts. Investing closer to home, he contends, would be profitable for all involved. More Midwest-specific funds, like the Clayton-based Mid America Healthcare Investors Network, would provide opportunity, and profit, in the region.

"We need more entrepreneurial investors," said Frank Samuel, the study’s other author.

The big steps — more state seed funding, a flood of venture capital — will help, if and when they arrive. But small steps now can help prepare the ground for entrepreneurship to bloom.

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The Duane Morris law firm said that former U.S. Rep. Jim Saxton has joined its lobbying arm, Duane Morris Government Affairs, as a senior adviser in its Cherry Hill, N.J., and Washington offices.

Duane Morris said Saxton brings experience in the defense, energy and other business sectors.

Saxton served as a Republican in New Jersey’s 3rd Congressional District from 1984 to 2009. He was a high-ranking member of the U.S. House committees on Armed Services and Natural Resources, as well as the chairman of the U.S. Congress Joint Economic Committee for several years overnight pay day loans.

After completing graduate studies at Temple University in 1968, Saxton worked as a public school teacher and small business owner. He served as a member of the New Jersey General Assembly between 1976 and 1981 before being elected to the New Jersey State Senate in 1982. In 1984, Saxton was elected to the U.S. House of Representatives in a special election. He was re-elected to Congress 12 times before deciding to retire.

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Emergency state legislation that will help Maryland health care leaders figure out how to put their share of $5 billion in federal money to use in a high-risk insurance pool has passed committees in both the House and Senate.

The bill, introduced last week after President Barack Obama signed the national health care reform bill, first paves the way for the Maryland Health Insurance Plan to continue operating as the state’s insurance pool for individuals with chronic and other costly health conditions who cannot afford to purchase coverage from a commercial carrier.

Money from the federal government — perhaps 1 percent to 2 percent of the $5 billion — would then enable MHIP to lower its premiums for coverage and eliminate a policy that denies coverage or makes it more expensive for individuals with pre-existing health conditions such as diabetes who previously were not covered by a private health plan.

The legislation — filed at House Bill 1564 and Senate Bill 1125 — passed the House Health and Government Operations Committee on March 27. It was approved by the Senate Finance Committee on March 25.

If the measure is passed by both sides of the state legislature and signed into law as expected, the benefits could take effect as soon as June, said Richard Popper, MHIP’s executive director.

“We could cut our premiums within 60 days,” he said bad credit pay day loans. “The national health care reform gives states the money to make it happen.”

Under the national health care reform, about 32 million more individuals will be required to have health insurance by 2014. In the meantime, the federal bill calls for the creation of a temporary national high-risk insurance pool that would lower the cost of coverage for millions of uninsured individuals.

Still, details regarding how Maryland’s 7-year-old high-risk insurance program will mesh with the new federal one need to be ironed out. Popper said eligibility requirements for the federal program may differ slightly from those imposed by MHIP.

As many as 70,000 uninsured Marylanders could benefit from the expansion of MHIP’s coverage, according to testimony Popper presented to members of the Senate Finance Committee on March 25.

MHIP already covers more than 17,000 Marylanders. Its enrollment grew about 15 percent in recession-soaked 2009, as more individuals joined the program after losing their job or their employer cut benefits.

Baltimore-based CareFirst BlueCross BlueShield, the region’s largest health insurer, administers claims for MHIP, which replaced the state’s Substantial, Available and Affordable Coverage plan in July 2003.

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